University of Illinois resources
- Finding Images and VideoGuide to locating royalty-free stock images in a variety of disciplines.
- Sharing Research with Story Maps (February 2018)Savvy Researcher workshop on how to create, edit, and publish Story Maps. Recorded February 26, 2018.
- StoryblocksLicensed by the U of I, Storyblocks offers 1.5 million-plus stock video, audio, and image files. The application is integrated with the campus single sign-on (Shibboleth), so you can log on to Storyblocks by entering your @illinois.edu email address.
- University of Illinois Public Affairs Image DatabaseHigh-quality images of University of Illinois people and places. Maintained by Public Affairs. Requires login.
- Using Kaltura CaptureKaltura Personal Capture is a program that makes it easy for users to create and upload videos to Kaltura through mediaspace.illinois.edu, Compass, or Moodle, available for Windows or Mac. Recorded videos can be a combination of webcams and/or screen recordings. Requires University of Illinois login to Mediaspace.
Free image tools
- Canva Tutorials Canva. “Tutorials.” Canva Design School, 2021. https://designschool.canva.com/tutorials/.
- GRID GRID enables you to leverage your existing spreadsheet skills to build smart, interactive calculators, reports and scenario analyses.
- Social Media Image Sizes 2022: Cheat Sheet for Every Network The most recent image size specifications for different social media networks, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.
Best design practices for data visualization
- 11 Design Tips for Data Visualization Outlines some easy rules and techniques you can follow to make your data look better.
- A guide to writing accessible image captions Making your social media profiles accessible to the majority of people stumbling across your posts is an intentional practice. From Instagram and Twitter photo descriptions to captioning audio on your TikTok videos, you have to consciously add these accessibility considerations. It's something you should absolutely do to ensure your accounts are navigable by people with various disabilities. Don't fret: You have most of the tools at your disposal.
- Colour me better: Fixing figures for colour blindness Images can be made more accessible by choosing hues, shapes and textures carefully.
- Data to viz: A collection of graphics pitfalls Examples of how not to do graphs and charts.
- How Pew Research Center uses small multiple charts Describe some of the things the Center’s staff considers when designing small multiples for publication.
- Present Your Data Like a Pro While a good presentation has data, data alone doesn’t guarantee a good presentation. It’s all about how that data is presented. The quickest way to confuse your audience is by sharing too many details at once. The only data points you should share are those that significantly support your point — and ideally, one point per chart. To avoid the debacle of sheepishly translating hard-to-see numbers and labels, rehearse your presentation with colleagues sitting as far away as the actual audience would. While you’ve been working with the same chart for weeks or months, your audience will be exposed to it for mere seconds. Give them the best chance of comprehending your data by using simple, clear, and complete language to identify X and Y axes, pie pieces, bars, and other diagrammatic elements. Try to avoid abbreviations that aren’t obvious, and don’t assume labeled components on one slide will be remembered on subsequent slides. Every valuable chart or pie graph has an “Aha!” zone — a number or range of data that reveals something crucial to your point. Make sure you visually highlight the “Aha!” zone, reinforcing the moment by explaining it to your audience.
- Tips for Effective Data Visualization Main focus is data dashboards, but also has useful design tips for other applications.
Envisioning Information by
This book provides practical advice about how to explain complex material by visual means, with extraordinary examples to illustrate the fundamental principles of information displays.
ISBN: 0961392118Publication Date: 1990-05-01
The Functional Art: an Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization by
Unlike any time before in our lives, we have access to vast amounts of free information. With the right tools, we can start to make sense of all this data to see patterns and trends that would otherwise be invisible to us. By transforming numbers into graphical shapes, we allow readers to understand the stories those numbers hide. In this practical introduction to understanding and using information graphics, you'll learn how to use data visualisations as tools to see beyond lists of numbers and variables and achieve new insights into the complex world around us. Regardless of the kind of data you're working with-business, science, politics, sports, or even your own personal finances-this book will show you how to use statistical charts, maps, and explanation diagrams to spot the stories in the data and learn new things from it. You'll also get to peek into the creative process of some of the world's most talented designers and visual journalists, including Condé Nast Traveler's John Grimwade, National Geographic Magazine's Fernando Baptista, The New York Times' Steve Duenes, The Washington Post's Hannah Fairfield, Hans Rosling of the Gapminder Foundation, Stanford's Geoff McGhee, and European superstars Moritz Stefaner, Jan Willem Tulp, Stefanie Posavec, and Gregor Aisch. . The Functional Art reveals: Why data visualisation should be thought of as "functional art" rather than fine art How to use colour, type, and other graphic tools to make your information graphics more effective, not just better looking The science of how our brains perceive and remember information Best practices for creating interactive information graphics A comprehensive look at the creative process behind successful information graphics An extensive gallery of inspirational work from the world's top designers and visual artists
ISBN: 0321834739Publication Date: 2012-08-22
Visual Explanations by
This book explores the representation of verbs, mechanisms and motion, process and dynamics, cause and effect, explanation and narrative. In explicating the principles, the author cites such examples as visual evidence to decide to launch the space shuttle Challenger, a supercomputer animation of a thunderstorm, stage magic, and disinformation design. Many examples show redesigns comparing before and after.
ISBN: 0961392126Publication Date: 1997-01-01
Visualize this : the flowingdata guide to design, visualization and statistics by ISBN: 9788126550838Publication Date: 2011
The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics by
In today's data-driven world, professionals need to know how to express themselves in the language of graphics effectively and eloquently. Yet information graphics is rarely taught in schools or is the focus of on-the-job training. Now, for the first time, Dona M. Wong, a student of the information graphics pioneer Edward Tufte, makes this material available for all of us. In this book, you will learn: to choose the best chart that fits your data; the most effective way to communicate with decision makers when you have five minutes of their time; how to chart currency fluctuations that affect global business; how to use color effectively; how to make a graphic "colorful" even if only black and white are available. The book is organized in a series of mini-workshops backed up with illustrated examples, so not only will you learn what works and what doesn't but also you can see the dos and don'ts for yourself. This is an invaluable reference work for students and professional in all fields.
ISBN: 9780393347289Publication Date: 2013-12-16
Copyright-free image sources
- 21 Amazing Sites With Breathtaking Free Stock Photos (2023 Update) Curated a list websites for free stock photos.
- Building American Solutions Center Image Gallery Find more than 2,000 new building and energy efficiency upgrade images in this DOE resource. Images are searchable by keywords. Each image includes a brief description.
- Finding Images and Video: Environmental Science Links to image collections related to environmental science.From the University of Illinois Library Finding Images and Video LibGuide.
- How to search for images you can (legally) use for free If you’re looking for an image that you can repurpose for one of your projects and aren’t able to take a photo yourself, there are a ton of free images you can use online without running into any copyright issues — you just have to know where to look. Here, we’ll go over different places where you can search for free images on the web.
- If/Then Collection A digital asset library of women STEM innovators, for educational and other noncommercial use.
- NREL Image Gallery This Image Gallery, provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is a collection of more than 55,000 photographs, scientific images, and videos related to renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, along with photos and videos documenting life at the laboratory. If you use a photo, illustration, or video from the NREL Image Gallery, you must provide appropriate credit and the image number in the credit. Example of credit: Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL 54321
- Openverse (Creative Commons image search) Openverse is a search engine for openly-licensed media (formerly Creative Commons image search)
- PhyloPic PhyloPic is a database of free silhouette images of animals, plants, and other life forms, available for reuse under Creative Commons licenses.
- Pixabay Copyright free images, vectors, and videos. Users may have to create an account to download large files.
- Public Domain Image Archive Explore a hand-picked collection of 10,046 out-of-copyright works, free for all to browse, download, and reuse. This is a living database with new images added every week. Search the collection or browse by artist, century, style, theme, or tag.
- Unsplash Over 1,000,000 free high-resolution photos brought to you by the world’s most generous community of photographers.